President Joe Biden’s harsh rhetoric against former President Donald Trump may have contributed to a toxic atmosphere leading up to the assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening.
The Washington Post published a front-page story on Saturday titled “Biden trains fire on Trump”, which reported on Biden’s “fiery rally” in Michigan, where he claimed Trump was “unfit” to serve as president again. The story sparked outrage on social media, with President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., sharing an image of the newspaper.
The rally turned violent when a 20-year-old gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired shots at the stage, injuring the former president and killing one bystander. The U.S. Secret Service killed the shooter, and two others were critically injured.
The incident has raised concerns about the growing political polarization in the country. Two weeks prior to the assassination attempt, Biden had called Trump a “genuine threat to this nation” in a social media post, and just before the shooting, he likened Trump to a “dictator”.
Critics have accused Biden of inflaming the situation with his harsh rhetoric, which may have contributed to the violence. However, the White House has not publicly commented on the matter.
